Great Depression

322 photos

Oklahomans, drought refugees in a southern California squatter's camp

Along a California highway, a dust bowl refugee bound for Oregon

Typical of thousands of migrating agricultural laborers. California

The incessant struggle for cleanliness amid dust and dirt. Imperial County, California

Dust bowl refugee from Chickasaw, Oklahoma. Imperial Valley, California. "Black Sunday, 1934, that was the awfullest dust we ever did see"

Ditch bank housing for Mexican field workers. Imperial Valley, California

Ditch bank housing for Mexican field workers. Imperial Valley, California

Ditch bank housing for Mexican field workers. Imperial Valley, California

Drought refugees from Chickasaw, Oklahoma. Three families traveling together. They can't travel because of lack of money for trailer license. Near Santa Maria, California

Water supply in a squatter camp near Calipatria is an open settling basin fed by an irrigation ditch

Water supply: an open settling basin from the irrigation ditch in a California squatter camp near Calipatria

Eighteen year-old mother from Oklahoma, now a California migrant

Eighteen year-old mother from Oklahoma, now a California migrant

Eighteen year-old mother from Oklahoma, now a California migrant

Squatter camp on county road near Calipatria. Forty families from the dust bowl have been camped here for months on the edge of the pea fields. There has been no work because the crop was frozen

Home of a dust bowl refugee in California. Imperial County

Auto camp north of Calipatria, California. Approximately eighty families from the Dust Bowl are camped here. They pay fifty cents a week. The only available work now is agricultural labor

Camp of migratory agricultural workers. Imperial County, California

Billboard on U.S. Highway 99 in California. National advertising campaign sponsored by National Association of Manufacturers

Children of migratory carrot pullers, Mexicans. Imperial Valley, California

On the highway. Riverside County, California

Billboard on U.S. Highway 99 in California. National advertising campaign sponsored by the National Association of Manufacturers

Billboard on U.S. Highway 99 in California. National advertising campaign sponsored by National Association of Manufacturers

Housing typical of that afforded Mexican field workers of the Imperial Valley. These people are not migrants, but live on the edge of the ranches and work in peas and melons